Consumer Affairs Reporter

Nando's has triumphed in building a brand of cool among Australia's young people, with 70 per cent of its customer base either Generation Y or Z, new research shows.

In its shadow come Hungry Jack's, KFC, and McDonald's. These two demographics – people born after 1980 – comprised about 47 per cent of their customers in an average month between October 2012 and September 2013.

“Nando's risqué marketing campaigns clearly resonate with young Australians, and they support this with cleverly positioned stores in metro areas and around campuses to best serve this target market,” said Warren Reid from Roy Morgan research.

Compared with data five years ago, the mighty trio of McDonalds, KFC and Hungry Jack's have all slightly lost their grip on their share of the youth market.

One in four Red Rooster diners are baby boomers or older. At KFC, Generation X remains over-represented.

In terms of store count, Nando's had the second lowest number among the country's top 10 fast food brands, a Fairfax survey reveals. But it is the fastest growing, experiencing a 285 per cent increase in the past decade, and now has 270 outlets.

Red Rooster and Pizza Hut chains, once dominant players, have shrunk in size in the past decade. Subway is the biggest chain, boosting its outlet count by 130 per cent to 1400 in that time.

Despite having 500 fewer stores than Subway, fast food giant McDonald's has not relinquished its hold as the most popular fast food chain. One in three Australians visited its counters in an average month last year, separate research from Roy Morgan shows.

By comparison, runner-up KFC attracted one in five Australians, while Subway came third with slightly fewer visits.

In the brand loyalty stakes, McDonald's extended its dominance, receiving 2.7 visits per customers in an average month.

The research is no surprise for McDonald's, which has been able to attract crowds with healthier food offerings, kids' playgrounds, drive-through service and online engagement.

The country's second most popular fast food chain KFC only received 1.9 visits, falling behind Subway, Hungry Jack's and Nando's.

“Brand loyalty is crucial. But it's the very convenience of so many fast food restaurants that means customers don't stay absolutely loyal to one particular chain,” said Mr Reid.

“Of all the fast food chains in the top 10, McDonalds' customers are the least likely to have visited competitor chains while, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Oporto customers have visited more fast food outlets than any other chain's customers in an average four weeks.”

Less than 3 per cent of the population visited Oporto and Eagle Boys Pizza in an average month last year. And to make things worse, the average number of visits per customer was fewer than 1.7 in a month.

Even so, both have doubled the size of their businesses in the past decade.

"Oporto has experienced tremendous growth from a single restaurant at Bondi in the mid-1980s to a network of more around 130 stores nationally today," said a company representative. "We now provide more than 15 million meals to Australians each year."